As board chair of a community hospital, I am often confronted with the dozens of quality and safety measures that state and federal regulators use to score and pay us, and private organizations use to rate us. And as someone who works to improve the quality of care for older adults, I am struck by how much all these measures [...]
An important new national study finds that, after adjusting for age, Americans 65 and older are less likely to get dementia than in the past. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn (JAMA) confirms previous regional studies in the US as well as recent research in Europe. The reasons for this decline in prevalence of the [...]
For decades, people have been hoping for the magic bullet that will prevent, cure, or even slow the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementias. Yet, despite small hints of progress-- and billions of dollars in research--there is no drug, and no app or game, that can successfully treat these diseases. This year, results of these efforts have been decidedly [...]
Just before leaving town for the year, Congress passed a budget that increased funding for Alzheimer’s research by 60 percent, but, as usual, provided little new money for programs that help those who have the disease, other frail elders, or their caregivers. Over the past six years, funding for most of these much-needed programs has not even kept up with [...]
Family caregivers help loved ones suffering from many illnesses, from heart disease to severe arthritis. But a new study shows that one condition—dementia—places an outsized burden on those family members. They spend more hours, do more difficult work, and provide assistance for more years than family members caring for older adults without memory loss. An article in the journal Health Affairs [...]
Cancer researchers are closer than ever to achieving their long-held dream of turning the disease from a death sentence to a chronic illness. This would be a remarkable scientific achievement. But while people may soon routinely live decades with their cancer in remission or even cured, they will not become immortal. Most will eventually suffer from some other debilitating condition and [...]
The Alzheimer’s Association predicts that finding a drug treatment for memory loss could save families and the government $935 billion over 10 years. But its report tells only part of the story and ignores key costs, including costs of the therapy itself. The group could have included an estimated price of those therapies in its report but chose not to, citing the uncertainties [...]
Just about everything you think you know about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is wrong. And because the conventional wisdom is so off-track, so are the ways we—both family members and professionals-- respond to those with dementia. That's Dr. G. Allen Power's provocative message. He wants us to stop thinking that people with dementia are victims of a terrible debilitating disease that destroys their memory [...]
A team of researchers at Georgetown University and six other medical centers has developed a simple blood test they say can predict, with 90 percent accuracy, whether an individual will develop Alzheimer’s Disease within 2-3 years. If it works as advertised, such a test could have a profound impact on the long-term care insurance market. The study results, published in the [...]
More than one out of every five nursing home residents is still being given powerful antipsychotic drugs despite a growing consensus that they are inappropriate and often dangerous. These drugs frequently are given to “calm” dementia patients even though many are approved only for the treatment of diseases such as schizophrenia. Despite a federal initiative, a $2.2 billion legal settlement [...]